Don Carlos

(Original Paris Version)

 

2015 Sarasota Opera Production

March 7, 12, 15m, 18, 21m, 24

 

Conductor

Victor DeRenzi

Stage Director

Stephanie Sundine

Scenic Designer

David P. Gordon

Costume Coordinator

Howard Tsvi Kaplan

Lighting Designer

Ken Yunker

Hair And Make-Up Designer

Dawn Rivard

Chorus Master

Roger L. Bingaman

Assistant Conductors

John F. Spencer IV, Stefano Sarzani,

Michael Spassov, Christopher Ray

Surtitle Supplier

Words For Music

Surtitle Translator

Victor DeRenzi

 

Production Created By Sarasota Opera

 

 

Cast

 

Philippe II, King of Spain

Kevin Short

Don Carlos, Infante of Spain

Jonathan Burton

Rodrigue, Marquis de Posa

Marco Nisticò

The Grand Inquisitor

Young Bok Kim

Élisabeth de Valois

Michelle Johnson

The Princess Eboli

Mary Phillips

Thibault, Élisabeth de Valois' page

Riley Svatos*

The Countess of Aremberg

Brittany Hebel*

The Count of Lerme

Jon Jurgens*

 

A royal herald

Peter Drackley*

A celestial voice

Jennifer Townshend*

 

A monk

Tyler Putnam*

Flemish deputies

Jeremiah Johnson*, Eric Lindsey*, Tyler Putnam*, 

Joseph Ryan*,Kenneth Stavert*, Constandinos Tsourakis*

 

* Studio Artist

 

Sarasota Opera Orchestra
Chorus: Sarasota Opera Apprentice And Studio Artists

 

 

Reviews

 

 

“What’s the recipe for grand opera? Take a soupcon of historic fact and mix well with large dollops of passion and heaping portions of great music. Then add fine singers, instrumentalists, appropriate costumes, scenery, a stage director with a vision and a conductor with the grit of a field marshal and, voila: Don Carlos, in just four hours and 30 minutes, two intermissions and five acts of glory.”
—June LeBell, The Observer

 

"No matter which way you look at it, the Sarasota Opera’s production of the original 1867 full-length Paris version of Verdi’s grand “Don Carlos” is an astonishing achievement." 

"Most reviews start with the lead vocalists, but in this case I must honor the entire chorus and the magnificent orchestra under the direction of Victor DeRenzi. In all cases, purely sublime, providing a solid foundation on which soloists could make their mark."

- Gayle Williams, Herald-Tribune

 

"Victor DeRenzi, however, demonstrated his Verdian mastery once again in every bar. Sarasota Opera’s Artistic Director consistently made manifest the remarkable originality and variety of this score, supported the singers alertly in the individual arias, and putting across the music’s power in ensemble scenes. With superb playing from the orchestra, DeRenzi brought stirring pomp and majesty to the auto-da-fe scene, and the extended prelude for horns that opens Act 2 sounded almost Wagnerian. The robust choral singing under the direction of Roger L. Bingaman was on the same high level."

- Lawrence A. Johnsons, The Classical Review

 

"More is always better when it comes to Verdi at Sarasota Opera. Never has that been as true as with Don Carlos, the highlight of the winter season and a landmark in the company’s quest to perform every note the composer wrote. When Sarasota’s twenty-eight-year Verdi Cycle concludes in 2016 with Aida and The Battle of Legnano, it will have encompassed his twenty-seven operas, plus a half dozen major revisions. As the grandest of Verdi’s French operas, Don Carlos is a monumental undertaking in whatever version is done — there are five basic versions — and the Sarasota production was the biggest of all. Under the baton of artistic director Victor DeRenzi, the company performed the five-act score Verdi wrote for the 1867 premiere in Paris, including sections he cut before opening night so that operagoers could catch the last train to the suburbs."

- John Fleming, Opera News

 

(Photos: Rod Millington / Sarasota Opera)